One year of da Spalla news!

…and more to come!

Feb 18, 2022

You are reading number 52 of this newsletter, it’s been one year of weekly news from the da Spalla world!

This newsletter was read 8497 times. It means, on average, 163 reads per number. So it seems that this niche is lively and curious.

Fifteen posts were dedicated to pure research topics, 8 to the repertoire, 9 to accessories, and 13 to interviews. Not enough about technique. Even if we spoke about technique issues between the lines in some interviews (see those with Owen Pallett and Andrew Gonzalez) and accessories related articles (those on how to use the strap and on different ways to support the instrument), we plan to cover this gap soon.

Which were the top read posts of these last six months?

Violoncello da Spalla

J. S. Bach, cantatas featuring a solo for violoncello piccolo - part 3

It’s New Year’s Day 1725, Leipzig, and J. S. Bach offers a big festive cantata, the BWV 41, featuring trumpets, oboes, timpani, strings and violoncello piccolo solo. It’s the third time Bach uses the cello piccolo in a cantata. Only a couple of months after BWV 180 and 115 (unfortunately, the catalogue numbers BWV are not in chronological order), the wr…

3 years ago · 1 like · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

Violoncello da Spalla

Markneukirchen Treasure - part 2

Following from In the collection of the Markneukirchen Museum there is an instrument, not in the exhibition, which pictures stroke me right away. Probably it’s mainly affection, but probably as a reader of this newsletter you will like it too. Catalogue number 1121, signed Johann Georg Hammig, 1747. It looks like a small double bass, five strings, flat ba…

3 years ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

Violoncello da Spalla

Owen Pallett on their first week with a Violoncello da Spalla

Owen Pallett has just received his brand new Violoncello da Spalla, made by the US luthier Eric Aceto. Owen is known for his eclectic (and poetic) performances using loop pedals, and for sure as one to whom things come out easy. However, I believe talented people, as they settle themselves on higher standards, need tons of discipline and practice. Thank…

3 years ago · 1 like · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

And the top in the whole year?

This post alone has 496 views, so I will soon write an update: I already ordered new sets from Thomastick, Aquila, Eliakim Boussoir and Serge Claderes, and I will try and compare them on our new instruments that will soon be ready for set up!

Violoncello da Spalla

Are there specially designed strings for Violoncello da Spalla?

First of all, how is usually a Violoncello da Spalla tuned? It’s C2, G2, D3, A3, E4. Which is same as a “normal” Cello with a top E added, or, more correctly, like a Tenor Violin with a low C added. That's it: Making strings for an instrument this short (vibrating string length between 39 and 45, being the most common 42,5, the Badiarov small model) and t…

4 years ago · 1 like · 9 comments · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

Violoncello da Spalla

Beautiful cases for Violoncello da Spalla

One thing everybody agrees on the Violoncello da Spalla is that it is a small, portable cello. Walking in a parade, or accompanying a square dance, or hanging from a hip of the horse of a travelling musician, this is how a Violoncello da Spalla spent his life, as clearly shown from the worn signs on the back of the Wagner, the original instrument preser…

4 years ago · 1 like · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

Violoncello da Spalla

The Violoncello da Spalla, a 21st-century aberration?

In March 2020, Mark Vanscheeuwijck published an interesting article titled: “Violoncello and other Bass Violins in Baroque Italy” I highly recommend it; it’s a good account of the birth of the modern violoncello and its influences in Europe. You will find good ideas of repertoire suitable for da Spalla and a clear exposition of what was probably not da S…

4 years ago · 1 like · 4 comments · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

…and my favourite post, which is a strong update and answer to the latter, and of which I am particularly proud not only because it shows my Violoncello da Spalla Made on the Wagner model, the one preserved in Lübeck with an original short neck, but especially because it features a set with all three basses single wound, showing that the fact that double wound strings were invented sooner or later doesn’t really have an influence on us.

Violoncello da Spalla

Repertoire: G. B. degli Antonii - Strings: single wound basses that work - the Wagner’s voice

This issue will not follow the usual format, as this week got so far from any usual format that I feel the urgency to share all the news at once. I cannot keep them for three separate issues! You already got the plan in the title, so let’s go straight to it…

4 years ago · 4 comments · Daniela Gaidano & A. Visintini

Thank you for reading this newsletter and for your support in these months! Your comments and private messages were of great help and interest, and it’s been a pleasure to connect with people with many different interests, coming from diverse backgrounds, but all intensely interested in the Violoncello da Spalla.

Updates from our workshop

Our two new cellos da spalla are soon to be settled!! If you are interests in trying them, this is the moment to get in touch!

On the left Alessandro’s Violoncello da Spalla and on the right Daniela’s.

When you get onto varnishing you start to have some free time, as you need to let the varnish dry between coats: Alessandro started a viola, and I went on rehairing bows, following what I learned last week in that fabulous course by Lynn Hannings.

Featured video of the week with news from da Spalla world

Enjoy this video, I enjoyed it a lot! The Glass Thistles, live, featuring Patrick Crooke on the violoncello da spalla, settled with his new Aquila synthetic strings.

I love this kind of music. They are having a gig this evening, hope we get more videos from that!!

One year of da Spalla news!

…and more to come!

Which were the top read posts of these last six months?

And the top in the whole year?

Updates from our workshop

Featured video of the week with news from da Spalla world

Discussion about this post